A couple high school students from Shelburne might end up doing something only a select few people will ever be able to say they’ve done — speak in front of the Queen.

Centre Dufferin District High School (CDDHS) students Rebecca Janke and Jeff Allen have been chosen to be the official representatives for Canada’s youth during the 70th anniversary of D-Day at Juno Beach in France on June 6.

Canadian Minister of Veteran Affairs Julian Fantino recently assigned the students to their post. Never has any Centre Dufferin student been asked to play such a significant role at a D-Day anniversary event to date.

“This is definitely precedent setting,” said Shannon Rankin, history teacher at CDDHS. “Ambassadors in more than one way are standing right in front of us.”

In front of what’s anticipated to be a crowd of more than 40,000 people, Allen and Janke have been given the task of reading the Commitment to Remember.

“It’s about how the youth and the next generations are carrying on the torch of remembrance,” Rankin explained. “Keeping that torch of remembrance alive. That’s what the words they will be saying represent.”

Allen will recite the Commitment to Remember in English, while Janke, who is currently studying Grade 12 French, will be tasked with saying it fluently a la Français.

“I’m getting there,” she said with a smile.

“We’ve been memorizing it every night, trying to get it perfect,” Allen chimed in. “Just so that we’re ready to present on that day.”

The prospect of speaking in front of the equivalent of a football stadium full of people in an attempt to honour D-Day veterans is already enough to strike at the nerves of even the strongest of public speakers.

If recent rumours hold true, however, they might end up speaking in front British royalty as well.

The rumour, although unconfirmed, is that Queen Elizabeth II could make an appearance at the Juno Beach Centre for the 70th anniversary of D-Day. Although Janke and Allen won’t know whether those whispers are true until the day of, they’re excited for the chance.

“It’s mind boggling. You never actually think you’re going to meet the Queen or see her in person and speak with her on stage,” Janke said. “If she was actually there, it would be a huge honour to be in her presence, let alone speak in front of her.”

Rankin said several students filled out applications explaining why they wanted to come on the D-Day anniversary trip. As it turns out, both Allen and Janke noted they would be willing to speak publicly if asked.

“I don’t think they realized the scale that we’d be signing them up for,” Rankin laughed. “These are the lucky two. ... But two very qualified students who kind of stood out to us.”

Throughout the years, Centre Dufferin has worked tirelessly to create and maintain a strong working relationship with the Juno Beach Centre.

During the school’s Battlefields Tour, students make regular pilgrimages to France to further their studies after researching and honouring many Canadian war veterans.

From Rankin’s perspective, history can seem highly abstract and theoretical from the view of a classroom. Allowing it to come alive is an approach faculty at the Shelburne high school continue to take.

“This is a pilgrimage that we take very seriously and that hands-on learning we want the students to experience,” Rankin said. “Taking them there on the beaches, feeling the sand, feeling the stone, seeing those places, just really hammers home what we want them to take from history,” she added.

To take that even further, the Centre Dufferin group will also bring Anthony Balch, a veteran of the Second World War who lives in Grand Valley, on their D-Day pilgrimage to France.

As a teenager, Balch operated a radio from a battleship off the shores of Juno Beach during the D-Day invasion, Rankin said.

“It’s huge that we have that kind of relationship with local veterans,” she added. “Again, that living, tangible history, that makes it less abstract.”

Besides his public speaking duties, Allen is champing at the bit to sit down and speak to someone who has lived through what he considers one of the most important moments in Canadian history.

“D-Day shows a great moment of Canadian nationalism. They actually gave us an entire beach to capture, just like they did for the Americans and the British,” Allen said. “It was really a whole coming of age for Canada.”